School Technical Ideas

An audit highlighting failings at hundreds of schools across Northern Ireland should not have been made public and puts increased pressure on an already stressed system, principals have warned.

The president of The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) Raymond McFeeters said that he feared that parents and school staff will now be left fearing for their future.

His reaction comes in the wake of the publication of an audit of schools in Northern Ireland which showed that over 500 are failing Government targets in education, finance or enrolment, and was highlighted in wednesday’s Belfast Telegraph.

Some 15 schools are failing in all three areas and Education Minister John O’Dowd has said that he would have no hesitation in closing those failing to meet targets in order to protect pupil education.

NAHT president Raymond McFeeters said that the publication of the audit may discourage parents from sending their own children to schools which are failing in education or financially.

“There are schools everybody knows need to close,” he said. “But there are others that are under stress and parents may see this and be put off. That’s not a fair way to operate. It puts additional stress on an already stressed system.”

Mark Langhammer, director of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said that the stark results set out “just how socially segregated our system is”.

Ronnie Hassard, principal of Ballymena Academy, said the figures — although necessary — do not tell the whole story about an individual school’s “life and work”.

Meanwhile, Avril Hall Callaghan of the Ulster Teachers’ Union said that the release of in depth and detailed figures regarding each school was “dangerous”.

“We need a wider picture. It’s so important that we don’t have a knee jerk reaction to this,” she added.

What next?

The Education Minister will be writing to schools in the coming weeks following the publication of a viability audit which highlighted failings at schools across Northern Ireland. The information will now be used to draw up an Area Plan for the future of the Northern Ireland schools’ estate. It’s expected that over the next 18 months it will be made clearer which schools are facing closure. Proposals for closures are expected to be published in February, with those earmarked beginning to shut in August 2013.

Although he did not mention names, Steve Bidelman of Naples spoke to the Collier County Public Schools board of education at its meeting Tuesday to express dissatisfaction with the way the administration handled recent employee complaints against schools’ technology chief Tom Petry.

Petry was temporarily removed from management duties for the 55-member information technology department and placed on a three-month improvement program. Bidelman called it a “handslap.”

Petry was accused of making inappropriate comments regarding race, gender and religion, for inappropriate physical contact with employees and for having a relationship with a vendor that appeared to be a conflict of interest, among other issues.

Bidelman said he didn’t think a similar situation would be tolerated in the private sector.
About 16 school system employees attended the meeting in support of Bidelman’s remarks but remained anonymous, fearing job repercussions, Bidelman said.

Superintendent Kamela Patton disagreed with the characterization of Petry’s coaching program as a handslap, adding that “the onus is on him to be ready for a jump back up” into his former management position. She said that with the exception of one employee who is no longer with the school system, no reports were made until December, although complainants cited issues that go back two years or more.

“Once something’s on my radar, it doesn’t go off,” she said.

Owning rental property can be a very profitable investment opportunity. One area of the rental industry that has gained popularity is the apartment renting for students. Finding apartments in an area near a university or a college is a great place to start with. You will have a ready-made market with the students in the area. Plus, you’ll be able to learn more about being a landlord before adding more properties to your portfolio.

Image via Flickr

Before jumping into the rental business, keep a few tips and ideas in mind. Here are some time-tested rental tips that will help protect you and your property:

Think About the High Turn Over Rate

One thing to keep in mind when renting to students is that there is a high turn over rate. Every semester, students look for a new environment or a new place to live. You’ll want to keep the turn over rate in mind and prepare accordingly.

Find Property Near Campus

Students want to be near campus, especially if they don’t have a car. For example, if you are looking at Kansas City apartments, look for property close to the University of Missouri or Rockhurst University.

Sign a Contract

Signing a contract is important with any rental property, but it’s especially important when renting to students. Get a signed contract that states the monthly rent and the terms of the contract. For example, if you own Kansas City apartments that service students at the University of Missouri, you’ll want to state that rental terms are for one year and not per semester. That’s just one example of rental terms that can be included in a contract.

Do Regular Inspections

In a typical rental situation, you would only need to do inspections when someone is moving out or moving in. When renting to students, it might be necessary to do inspections on a monthly basis. This is a great way for you, as the landlord, to ensure that the apartment is being taken care of, that the facilities are kept clean, and that all the rules and regulations are being followed. If you own multiple apartments, hire a property manager to do the inspections for you.

Owning student apartments is a great way to bring in some investment income. Choose the location wisely and keep communication lines open, and you’ll be on your way to having a positive landlord experience. Student apartments are always needed, so the demand will be high for many years to come.

As news of the earthquake that devastated Haiti grabbed the world’s attention, a group of Texas A&M University undergraduate and graduate students received an urgent request for help.

They were ready.

The group had been meeting every Friday with civil engineering professor Bryan Boulanger and an interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff (including Stephen Carpenter, Oscar Munoz and Cory Arcak) to research and create appropriate technology-based ceramic water filters ― a low-tech solution to the local and global potable water crisis. The team, known as the Texas A&M Water Project, had been troubleshooting techniques with the support of FilterPure, a nonprofit organization based out of the Dominican Republic and Haiti committed to providing safe drinking water to at-risk populations.

“FilterPure needed trained people right away,” says Boulanger. “Haiti’s entire infrastructure, including its existing water supply, had been destroyed, and we were in a position to send people to help. We needed to mobilize quickly and a study-abroad field trip was the best way to accomplish this.”

Boulanger says that the Study Abroad Programs Office did a wonderful job getting all the passports, insurance and other paperwork processed quickly. He credits Amy Schultze, a study-abroad adviser, with getting him and five students ― two from the College of Education, two from civil engineering and one from industrial and systems engineering ― on the ground in three weeks.

“Our trip to the Dominican Republic wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Study Abroad and the departments of civil engineering, industrial and systems engineering and teaching, learning and culture,” says Boulanger. “It’s that kind of across the board support that demonstrates how committed Texas A&M is to service around the globe.”

The group’s intention was to go to Haiti itself, Boulanger explains, but the U.S. Department of State issued a travel advisory that prevented taking students into Haiti.  Instead, the group worked across the border in a FilterPure facility in the Dominican Republic to help create 500 filters and approximately 3,000 fired mud bricks for a kiln that is now operational in Haiti.  FilterPure then trucked the material across the border into Haiti.

The Texas A&M team traveled to the Dominican Republic to create 500 ceramic filters.

“This was an amazing opportunity for our students to see their engineering work put into practice and have immediate utility. It was experiential learning at its best,” Boulanger says.

The students were immersed in another culture day and night. They stayed with local families in the small town of Higuerito, taking bucket showers and sleeping under mosquito netting. They built strong relationships with the family members and with the local community. At the filter production facility, they worked side-by-side with workers from other cultures and backgrounds.

Boulanger adds, “They discovered that when you get your hands dirty together, you really bond quickly with people.”

“We had a multi-level experience,” explains Ishan Desai, a doctoral student in civil engineering from Kolkata, India. “At the physical level, we had an opportunity to travel halfway around the globe to help an at-risk population. At the mental level, we used our technical and problem-solving abilities to produce economic and effective water filters. And at the spiritual level, it wasn’t about ‘me,’ it was about being part of the global community.”

“The opportunity to do a study abroad field trip had so many benefits besides the obvious one of helping the people of Haiti,” Boulanger states. “It helped our students grow, allowed them to experience different cultures and definitely built character and confidence.  Also, every aspect of our experience involved high-impact learning.”

The students needed to practice teamwork and to trust in other team members in order to get the filters made, he adds. For example, creating filters and kiln bricks involves a multistep process. Team members needed to cooperate and coordinate with each other to determine what to do next.

There was also the issue of how to get the bricks from one part of the island to the other, and problems associated with border crossings. The ability to solve logistical problems, as well as to develop a better understanding of the reasoning behind the design process of the filters, helped when the team returned to Texas A&M.

“They were able to help plan the layout of our new facilities in Laredo based on what they learned in the Dominican Republic,” Boulanger notes.

These technology-based ceramic water filters provide a low-tech solution to the local and global potable water crisis.

The Texas A&M Water Project has been granted space to build a point-of-use ceramic water filter production and education facility in Laredo for residents of the Texas colonias. Texas has an estimated 400,000-500,000 people without access to sanitation or clean drinking water in their homes, most notably in South Texas.

“Not only does this project provide a critical service for people in the state and beyond, but our study abroad trip to the Dominican Republic has given our students the global perspective needed to work with the diverse communities of Texas,” Boulanger adds.

As Perpetua Mbachu, a senior allied health major from Austin, says, “Being able to work with the Texas A&M Water Project was an opportunity of a lifetime. I had the chance to work in an unfamiliar setting, to interact with people of a different culture and to learn the value of breaking barriers to communicate ideas and share perspectives. This experience showed me how a small group of people with a common mission can begin to shape the world.”